Fandoom – Chapter 7, Act 2, Strip 58

So today we learn how the team actually managed to pull that little stunt off.

Good thing that Snuka and Gregory were suddenly overcome by an urge to recapitulate the matter…to each other. While looking at the camera, instead of each other. Have you never experienced that kind of urge? I do that a lot…randomly turning toward one wall of the room during a conversation, and recapitulating whatever happened last. Sometimes also including salient personal details of myself and the person I’m talking to. If you don’t do that, you’re weird. *cough*

So, how did they do it? Easy – Gregory drew on a wizard’s stock ability to create fireworks (established by no one less than Gandalf himself), and then the Professor drew on what remains of his expertise as a medievalist to talk Biff into believing that that day was New Year’s Eve…triggering Biff’s well-established habit of accidentally setting off huge stacks of explosives on that very day.

And it is true that the New Year was not always reckoned to start with January 1st during the Middle Ages. There was quite a deal of regional variations. In some regions, Dec. 25th was considered the start of a New Year, and March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation) was another popular choice – as was Easter Sunday, which doesn’t even occur on the same date every year, leading to years of different lengths. Some monasteries also used the feast day of their specific patron saint. It does create quite the headache when dealing with dates and durations based on medieval sources…so while it’s still not true that any day could have been New Year’s Eve back then, it gets close enough to convince somebody like Biff. XD

That being said, I have no idea how consistent or inconsistent the New Year’s date was in Japan at that time, but since fantasy scenarios usually draw mostly on the Middle Ages in Europe, we should be okay. XD

Anyway…rattled and shaken, Lord Takeshi isn’t yet ready to call it a day. He has one final trick up his sleeve, naturally.* But then he succumbs to his baser instincts and uses that shot to make a stupid pun. >_> Has he sealed his fate? Or will his biggest fan somehow be able to slap down his enemies, after all? We’ll learn on Mon…uh, Thursday.

* I mean, just look at how wide those sleeves are! A magician’s dream!